Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Ameriatch One of the best films i have seen

TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Gil Costello There is what I consider one of the greatest films of all time by one of the great film artists of the 20th century, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who died at age 38, leaving behind 40 films. The film is In a Year With 13 Moons. I hesitate to even write about it, knowing that no matter how close I come to revealing a sense of the richness and complexity of this film, it will only detract from what Fassbinder actually accomplished. It is a confessional film, and although certainly not intended to be a critique of gay culture, in the end, by its beautifully brutal honesty, ended in being just that to so many prominent gay persons, certainly not all, but simultaneously revealing that gay culture is but a reflection or a microcosm of the larger, universal matrix of sado-masochistic imprisonment that no one escapes from other than as martyr-saint (I can embrace Saint=Fassbinder), a matrix that includes all landscapes that are relational, societal, religious, philosophical, anthropological, economic and political of every shape and hue. This film resides in eternity, so there is no end to it-it is epic. It requires multiple viewings, and then, after a pause lasting moments or years, beginning again. It cost a little over $300,000 to make, yet every frame is perfection in lighting, dialogue, mise-en-scene, camera work, editing and directing, and he did it all himself, except with some help in editing, a personal film of the highest order. He tells the painful truth in every second, never letting up, from the beginning alarming us to the fact that this film will be an emotional slaughterhouse with every curtain ripped away. Stay at your own risk, or cover your eyes and stuff up your ears, because this will be a bumpy road like no other. And its finale reveals the glory of the dignity of the human person that can reside in no place other than the truth. Few films capture this in such magnitude. I think of Antonioni's L' Aventura, Bergman's Winter Light, and Tarkovsky's Solaris, but no film I can think of is as personal as 13 Moons.

gavin6942 This drama follows the last few days in the life of Elvira (formerly Erwin) Weisshaupt. Years before, Erwin told a co-worker, Anton, that he loved him. "Too bad, you aren't a woman," he replied. Erwin took Anton at his word. Trying to salvage something from the wreckage love has made of his life, he now hopes that Anton will not reject him again.At this point (2017), I have seen most of what Fassbinder has made. And, indeed, the vast majority is really good. Some have said this is his best work. While I am not sure I am ready to jump on that train, I am also not willing to deny the possibility. Even the content alone deserves praise. This is 1978. I am no expert on transgender history, but I cannot think of any films that tackled such a heavy subject this far back.If anything, the film seems even more topical today as transgender issues are more front and center. The mainstream is ready to stand up for the rights of these folks, and films like "13 Moons" should really be re-examined by the film community.

velvethighpeace "...Every 7th year is a Year of the Moon. Certain people, whose existence is predominantly determined by their feelings and emotions, are afflicted by unusually severe depressions in these Moon Years, comparable with those they suffer in years with 13 new moons, albeit less intense. And if a Moon Year coincides with a year of 13 new moons, they can often suffer major personal disasters. In the 20th century, there are six years when this dangerous conjunction occurs. After 1978, the year 1992 will again jeopardise the existence of many human beings...Frankfurt is a place whose particular structure virtually provokes biographies like this one -or at least doesn't make them seem particularly unusual. Frankfurt is a town where you run into all the general contradictions of society at every street-corner, incessantly. Or at least, if you don't stumble over THEM immediately, the contradictions that are being fairly successfully ironed out everywhere else" (RWF)

Progbear-4 If Fassbinder has made a worse film, I sure don't want to see it! Anyone who complains that his films are too talky and claustrophobic should be forced to view this, to learn to appreciate the more spare style he opted for in excellent films like "The Bitter Tears Of Petra von Kant". This film bogs down with so much arty, quasi-symbolic images it looks like a parody of an "art-film". The scene in the slaughterhouse and the scene where Elvira's prostitute friend channel-surfs for what seems like ten minutes are just two of the most glaring examples of what makes this film a real test of the viewer's endurance. But what really angers me about it are the few scenes which feature just Elvira and her ex-wife and/or her daughter. These are the only moments that display any real human emotion, and prove that at the core of this horrible film, there was an excellent film struggling to free itself. What a waste.